Search results

Archbishop Rev. Dr Soritua Albert Ernest Nababan, a global ecumenical leader, passed away on 8 May in Jakarta, Indonesia, at the age of 88. He was the World Council of Churches (WCC) president from 2006-2013 and served as the former Ephorus (Archbishop) of the Huria Kristen Batak Protestan, the largest Protestant church in Indonesia and the largest Lutheran church in Asia with a membership of 4 million people.

As Christians across the world prepare to celebrate Easter shuttered in their homes, they will still find the joy of the day and feel closer to each other, thanks to creative thinking by church leaders.

From including photos of church members within webcast worship services, to placing written greetings at doorways, Easter celebrations can still safely connect people who want to celebrate the resurrection of their common Lord.

At a seminar on African missiology held in Nairobi, Kenya on 13 February, participants gave space to theological reflections linked to the Arusha Conference.

The one-day event, “Re-visiting Arusha 2018: Highlights of African Missiology,” also created space for new reflections based on the Arusha Call to Discipleship.

Highlights of African missiology will be explored during an event to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 13 February.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Christian Conference of Asia held a regional con-sultation on “Evangelism and Missional Witness in a Multi-religious Asia” from 29 November to 5 December. Convening in Chiang Mai, Thailand, the gathering explored evangelism as an effective means to extend and spread the good news. The WCC and the Christian Conference of Asia have a long his-tory and tradition of being deeply involved in mission and evangelism through different program-matic areas.

With great sadness, the World Council of Churches (WCC) received news of the demise of Prof. Vuyani Vellem on 4 December. A member of the WCC’s Commission on Ecumenical Education and Formation, Vellem was director of the Centre for Public Theology and associate professor at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He also served as deputy secretary of the South Africa Council of Churches.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Christian Conference of Asia have announced a regional consultation on “Evangelism and Missional Witness in a Multi-religious Asia” from 29 November to 5 December. Convening in Chiang Mai, Thailand, the gathering will explore evangelism as an effective means to extend and spread the good news.

How much is the mission of the church related to people with disabilities? These days we talk a lot about inclusive societies and churches. But, have we arrived there? Are our societies and churches taking seriously the problems and challenges that people with disabilities face on a daily basis? People with disabilities find themselves quite often at the margins of the societies and even of the churches.

The Arusha Call to Discipleship is at once exhilarating, transformative and challenging to the point of discomfort for some, reflected leaders of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) during a 20 May press conference and book launch in Helsinki, Finland.

World Council of Churches partners in Arusha, Tanzania reflected on the realities in the communities they serve as they met one year after the World Council of Churches’ Conference on World Mission and Evangelism.

The latest issue of the International Review of Mission, the biannual journal of the WCC contains a selection of articles which were on the one hand given as key lectures at the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism in Arusha from 8-13 March 2018 and on the other hand articles from Missiologists from all over the world, including Catholic, Pentecostal, Protestant and Orthodox voices, asking about “Mission quo vadis after Arusha?”.

Rev. Dr Jooseop Keum received an honorary doctorate on 8 September from the Debrecen Reformed Theological University (DRTU) in Hungary. Keum, a pastor with the Presbyterian Church in Korea, is a former World Council of Churches executive and long-time friend of the Reformed Church in Hungary.

A seminar following the WCC Conference on World Mission and Evangelism is being convened on 20 April in Helsinki, Finland. Participants and speakers include, among others, Rev. Dr Benjamin Simon, professor of Ecumenical Missiology at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, as well as delegates to the Arusha conference representing Lutheran and Orthodox churches.

Environmentally-conscious presiding bishop Dr Fredrick Shoo of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania says it was a special honour to host the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism in his country that is often called the “cradle of humanity”. “It has been a moment of reflection for the church as one body of disciples of Christ and on how we witness about Christ in the global context,” said Shoo, known for his tree-planting activities, in an interview.

The Conference on World Mission and Evangelism officially closed with a “sending service” during which participants reflected on their call to discipleship and the significance of such a call in transforming mission in a world of pain, dislocation and turmoil.

“We can embrace the cross when we hold that there is no spirituality without life and spirituality is impatient life against the disorder of humanity,” said Rev. Dr Vuyani Vellem, one of the speakers at a plenary on the theology of the cross at the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME).

Daily Bible studies at the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism has been gathering participants from mainline Protestant, Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Evangelical, Pentecostal, and African-instituted churches. The Bible studies prepared for the for the conference are available at the WCC website.

Thirty participants gathered on 9-10 March in a ‘warsha’ - or workshop - entitled “Building Capacity for Migration & Multicultural Ministries: From Chaos to Hope” in Arusha, Tanzania.
“Warsha,” a Kiswahili term, defines an arena for discussing new ideas that advance creative thinking, in this case on how the the church today can inform and inspire mission and ministry with the migrants.

Discipleship takes place when we intentionally, sacrificially, and consistently live every moment of our daily lives in commitment to following Jesus, said Rt Rev. Dhiloraj Ranjit Canagasabey at the missional formation plenary of the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) on March 12.

His Holiness Ignatius Mor Aphrem II, Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, arrived Sunday af-ternoon at the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) being held in Arusha, Tan-zania from 8-13 March.